Documentation

`VM::detect()`

This is basically the main function you're looking for, which returns a bool. If the parameter is set to nothing, all the recommended checks will be performed. But you can optionally set what techniques are used.

#include "vmaware.hpp"

int main() {
    /**
     * The basic way to detect a VM where the default checks will 
     * be performed. This is the recommended usage of the library.
     */ 
    bool is_vm = VM::detect();


    /**
     * This does the exact same as above, but as an explicit alternative.
     */ 
    bool is_vm2 = VM::detect(VM::DEFAULT);


    /**
     * All checks are performed including spoofable techniques
     * and a few other techniques that are disabled by default,
     * one of which is VM::CURSOR which waits 5 seconds for any 
     * human mouse interaction to detect automated virtual environments.
     * If you're fine with having a 5 second delay, add VM::ALL 
     */ 
    bool is_vm3 = VM::detect(VM::ALL);


    /**
     * If you don't want the value to be memoized for whatever reason, 
     * you can set the VM::NO_MEMO flag and the result will not be cached. 
     * It's recommended to use this flag if you're only using one function
     * from the public interface a single time in total, so no unneccessary 
     * caching will be operated when you're not going to re-use the previously 
     * stored result at the end. 
     */ 
    bool is_vm4 = VM::detect(VM::NO_MEMO);


    /**
     * This will set the threshold bar to detect a VM higher than the default threshold.
     * Use this if you want to be extremely sure if it's a VM, but this can risk the result
     * to be a false negative. Use VM::percentage() for a more precise result if you want.
     */ 
    bool is_vm5 = VM::detect(VM::HIGH_THRESHOLD);


    /**
     * Essentially means only the CPU brand, MAC, and hypervisor bit techniques 
     * should be performed. Note that the less flags you provide, the more 
     * likely the result will not be accurate. If you just want to check for 
     * a single technique, use VM::check() instead. Also, read the flag table
     * at the end of this doc file for a full list of technique flags.
     */
    bool is_vm6 = VM::detect(VM::CPU_BRAND, VM::MAC, VM::HYPERVISOR_BIT);


    /**
     * If you want to disable any technique for whatever reason, use VM::DISABLE(...).
     * This code snippet essentially means "perform all the default flags, but only 
     * disable the VM::RDTSC technique". 
     */ 
    bool is_vm7 = VM::detect(VM::DISABLE(VM::RDTSC));


    /**
     * Same as above, but you can disable multiple techniques at the same time.
     */ 
    bool is_vm8 = VM::detect(VM::DISABLE(VM::VMID, VM::RDTSC, VM::HYPERVISOR_BIT));


    /**
     * This is just an example to show that you can use a combination of 
     * different flags and non-technique flags with the above examples. 
     */ 
    bool is_vm9 = VM::detect(VM::DEFAULT, VM::NO_MEMO, VM::HIGH_THRESHOLD, VM::DISABLE(VM::RDTSC, VM::VMID));

}

`VM::percentage()`

This will return a std::uint8_t between 0 and 100. It'll return the certainty of whether it has detected a VM based on all the techniques available as a percentage. The lower the value, the less chance it's a VM. The higher the value, the more likely it is.

#include "vmaware.hpp"
#include <iostream>
#include <cstdint>

int main() {
    // uint8_t and unsigned char works too
    const std::uint8_t percent = VM::percentage();

    if (percent == 100) {
        std::cout << "Definitely a VM!\n";
    } else if (percent == 0) {
        std::cout << "Definitely NOT a VM\n";
    } else {
        std::cout << "Unsure if it's a VM\n";
    }

    // converted to std::uint32_t for console character encoding reasons
    std::cout << "percentage: " << static_cast<std::uint32_t>(percent) << "%\n"; 
}

Note

you can use the same flag system as shown with VM::detect() for this function.

`VM::brand()`

This will essentially return the VM brand as a std::string. All the brands are listed here

If none were detected, it will return Unknown. It should be noted that this could be a common scenario even if you're running inside a VM due to technical difficulties with accomplishing this. This is especially true for VMware sub-versions (ESX, GSX, Fusion, etc...). It's not recommended to rely on this function for critical operations as if your whole program depends on it.

#include "vmaware.hpp"
#include <string>

int main() {
    const std::string result = VM::brand();

    if (result == "KVM") {
        // do KVM specific stuff
    } else if (result == "VirtualBox") {
        // do vbox specific stuff
    } else {
        // you get the idea
    }
}

On rare occasions, there might be cases where there's multiple brands that have been detected, which might cause a conflicting output with an inaccurate result. To prevent this, you can use the VM::MULTIPLE flag that returns a message rather than a VM brand string. For example, if it found 2 conflicting brands, it will return VMware or VirtualBox. For 3 conflicts, it's VMware or VirtualBox or QEMU and so on.

#include "vmaware.hpp"
#include <string>

int main() {
    // format: "vmbrand1 or vmbrand2 [or vmbrandx...]"
    const std::string result = VM::brand(VM::MULTIPLE);

    // example output: "VMware or Bochs"
    std::cout << result << "\n";

    // Keep in mind that there's no limit to how many conflicts there can be.
    // And if there's no conflict, it'll revert back to giving the brand string
    // normally as if the VM::MULTIPLE wasn't there
}

Note

you can use the same flag system as shown with VM::detect() for VM::brand()

Important

VM::MULTIPLE has no effect for any other function other than VM::brand()

`VM::check()`

This takes a single technique argument and returns a bool. It essentially returns a technique's effective output. Nothing more, nothing less.

#include "vmaware.hpp"
#include <iostream>

int main() {
    if (VM::check(VM::VMID)) {
        std::cout << "VMID technique detected a VM!\n";
    }

    if (VM::check(VM::HYPERVISOR_BIT)) {
        std::cout << "Hypervisor bit is set, most definitely a VM!\n";
    }
}

`VM::add_custom()`

This function allows you to add your own custom VM detection techniques to the scoring system. The first parameter is the percentage score (0 to 100) of how likely it's a VM if your custom code returns true, and the second parameter should either be a lambda, a function pointer, or a std::function<bool()>

// Example 1 with function pointers

bool new_technique() {
    // add your VM detection code here
    return true; 
}

VM::add_custom(50, new_technique);

// Example 2 with lambdas

VM::add_custom(50, []() -> bool { 
    // add your VM detection code here
    return true; 
});

auto new_technique = []() -> bool { 
    // add your VM detection code here
    return true;
}

VM::add_custom(50, new_technique);

// Example 3 with std::function

std::function<bool()> new_technique = []() -> bool {
    // add your VM detection code here
    return true;
};

VM::add_custom(50, new_technique);

`VM::type()`

This will return the VM type (or architecture) as a std::string based on the brand found. The possible return values are listed here in the type column.

#include "vmaware.hpp"
#include <iostream>

int main() {
    // example output: VirtualBox is a Hypervisor (type 2) VM
    std::cout << VM::brand() " is a " << VM::type() << " VM\n";
}

`VM::conclusion()`

This will return the "conclusion" message of what the overall result is as a std::string. By default, there are 2 possible outputs:

Running on baremetal
Running inside a [brand] VM

The [brand] part might contain a brand or may as well be empty, depending on whether a brand has been found. Additionally, you can extend this by adding the VM::DYNAMIC flag which will now allow much more variadic potential outputs:

Running on baremetal
Very unlikely a [brand] VM
Unlikely a [brand] VM
Potentially a [brand] VM
Might be a [brand] VM
Likely a [brand] VM
Very likely a [brand] VM
Running inside a [brand] VM

`VM::detected_count()`

This will fetch the number of techniques that have been detected as a std::uint8_t. Can't get any more simpler than that ¯_(ツ)_/¯, how's your day btw?

vmaware struct

If you prefer having an object to store all the relevant information about the program's environment instead of calling static member functions, you can use the VM::vmaware struct:

struct vmaware {
    std::string brand;
    std::string type;
    std::string conclusion;
    bool is_vm;
    std::uint8_t percentage;
    std::uint8_t detected_count;
    std::uint8_t technique_count;
};

example:

#include "vmaware.hpp"
#include <iostream>

int main() {
    VM::vmaware vm;

    std::cout << "Is this a VM? = " << vm.is_vm << "\n";
    std::cout << "How many techniques detected a VM? = " << vm.detected_count << "%\n";
    std::cout << "What's the VM's type? = " << vm.type << "%\n";
    std::cout << "What's the overview in a human-readable message?" << vm.conclusion << "\n";
}

Note

the flag system is compatible for the struct constructor.

Flag table

VMAware provides a convenient way to not only check for VMs, but also have the flexibility and freedom for the end-user to choose what techniques are used with complete control over what gets executed or not. This is handled with a flag system.

Flag alias	Description	Cross-platform? (empty = yes)	Certainty	Admin?	GPL-3.0?	32-bit only?	Notes
`VM::VMID`	Check CPUID output of manufacturer ID for known VMs/hypervisors at leaf 0		100%
`VM::CPU_BRAND`	Check if CPU brand model contains any VM-specific string snippets		50%
`VM::HYPERVISOR_BIT`	Check if hypervisor feature bit in CPUID eax bit 31 is enabled (always false for physical CPUs)		100%
`VM::HYPERVISOR_STR`	Check for hypervisor brand string length (would be around 2 characters in a host machine)		45%
`VM::RDTSC`	Benchmark RDTSC and evaluate its speed, usually it's very slow in VMs	Linux and Windows	10%
`VM::THREADCOUNT`	Check if there are only 1 or 2 threads, which is a common pattern in VMs with default settings (nowadays physical CPUs should have at least 4 threads for modern CPUs)		35%
`VM::MAC`	Check if mac address starts with certain VM designated values	Linux and Windows	60%
`VM::TEMPERATURE`	Check if thermal directory in linux is present, might not be present in VMs	Linux	15%
`VM::SYSTEMD`	Check result from systemd-detect-virt tool	Linux	70%
`VM::CVENDOR`	Check if the chassis vendor is a VM vendor	Linux	65%
`VM::CTYPE`	Check if the chassis type is valid (it's very often invalid in VMs)	Linux	10%
`VM::DOCKERENV`	Check if /.dockerenv or /.dockerinit file is present	Linux	80%
`VM::DMIDECODE`	Check if dmidecode output matches a VM brand	Linux	55%	Admin
`VM::DMESG`	Check if dmesg output matches a VM brand	Linux	55%	Admin
`VM::HWMON`	Check if /sys/class/hwmon/ directory is present. If not, likely a VM	Linux	75%
`VM::SIDT5`	Check if the 5th byte after sidt is null	Linux	45%
`VM::VMWARE_REG`	Check for VBox RdrDN	Windows	65%
`VM::VBOX_REG`	Look for any VirtualBox-specific registry data	Windows	65%
`VM::USER`	checks for default usernames, often a sign of a VM	Windows	35%
`VM::DLL`	Check for VM-specific DLLs	Windows	50%
`VM::REGISTRY`	Check for VM-specific registry values	Windows	75%
`VM::VM_FILES`	Find for VMware and VBox specific files	Windows	10%
`VM::HWMODEL`	Check if the sysctl for the hwmodel does not contain the "Mac" string	MacOS	75%
`VM::DISK_SIZE`	Check if disk size is under or equal to 50GB	Linux	60%
`VM::VBOX_DEFAULT`	Check for default RAM and DISK sizes set by VirtualBox	Linux and Windows	55%	Admin
`VM::VBOX_NETWORK`	Check for VirtualBox network provider string	Windows	70%
`VM::COMPUTER_NAME`	Check if the computer name (not username to be clear) is VM-specific	Windows	40%		GPL
`VM::WINE_CHECK`	Check wine_get_unix_file_name file for Wine	Windows	85%		GPL
`VM::HOSTNAME`	Check if hostname is specific	Windows	25%		GPL
`VM::VBOX_WINDOW_CLASS`	Check for the window class for VirtualBox	Windows	10%		GPL
`VM::LOADED_DLLS`	Check for loaded DLLs in the process	Windows	75%		GPL
`VM::KVM_REG`	Check for KVM-specific registry strings	Windows	75%		GPL
`VM::KVM_DRIVERS`	Check for KVM-specific .sys files in system driver directory	Windows	55%		GPL
`VM::KVM_DIRS`	Check for KVM directory "Virtio-Win"	Windows	55%		GPL
`VM::AUDIO`	Check if audio device is present	Windows	35%		GPL
`VM::QEMU_DIR`	Check for QEMU-specific blacklisted directories	Windows	45%		GPL
`VM::VM_PROCESSES`	Check for any VM processes that are active	Windows	30%
`VM::LINUX_USER_HOST`	Check for default VM username and hostname for linux	Linux	25%
`VM::GAMARUE`	Check for Gamarue ransomware technique which compares VM-specific Window product IDs	Windows	40%
`VM::VMID_0X4`	Check if the CPU manufacturer ID matches that of a VM brand with leaf 0x40000000		100%
`VM::PARALLELS_VM`	Check for any indication of Parallels VM through BIOS data	Windows	50%
`VM::RDTSC_VMEXIT`	check through alternative RDTSC technique with VMEXIT		25%				Disabled by default
`VM::QEMU_BRAND`	Match for QEMU CPU brands with "QEMU Virtual CPU" string		100%
`VM::BOCHS_CPU`	Check for various Bochs-related emulation oversights through CPU checks		95%
`VM::VPC_BOARD`	Check through the motherboard and match for VirtualPC-specific string	Windows	20%
`VM::HYPERV_WMI`	Check WMI query for "Hyper-V RAW" string	Windows	80%
`VM::HYPERV_REG`	Check presence for Hyper-V specific string in registry	Windows	80%
`VM::BIOS_SERIAL`	Check if the BIOS serial is valid (null = VM)	Windows	60%
`VM::MSSMBIOS`	Check MSSMBIOS registry for VM-specific strings	Windows	75%
`VM::MAC_MEMSIZE`	Check if memory is too low for MacOS system	MacOS	30%
`VM::MAC_IOKIT`	Check MacOS' IO kit registry for VM-specific strings	MacOS	80%
`VM::IOREG_GREP`	Check for VM-strings in ioreg commands for MacOS	MacOS	75%
`VM::MAC_SIP`	Check if System Integrity Protection is disabled (likely a VM if it is)	MacOS	85%
`VM::HKLM_REGISTRIES`	Check HKLM registries for specific VM strings	Windows	70%
`VM::QEMU_GA`	Check for "qemu-ga" process	Linux	20%
`VM::VALID_MSR`	check for valid MSR value 0x40000000	Windows	35%
`VM::QEMU_PROC`	Check for QEMU processes	Windows	30%
`VM::VPC_PROC`	Check for VPC processes	Windows	30%
`VM::VPC_INVALID`	Check for official VPC method	Windows	75%			32-bit
`VM::SIDT`	Check for sidt instruction method	Linux, Windows	30%
`VM::SGDT`	Check for sgdt instruction method	Windows	30%			32-bit
`VM::SLDT`	Check for sldt instruction method	Windows	15%			32-bit
`VM::OFFSEC_SIDT`	Check for Offensive Security SIDT method	Windows	60%			32-bit
`VM::OFFSEC_SGDT`	Check for Offensive Security SGDT method	Windows	60%			32-bit
`VM::OFFSEC_SLDT`	Check for Offensive Security SLDT method	Windows	20%			32-bit
`VM::HYPERV_BOARD`	Check for Hyper-V specific string in motherboard	Windows	45%
`VM::VM_FILES_EXTRA`	Check for VPC and Parallels files	Windows	70%
`VM::VPC_SIDT`	Check for sidt method with VPC's 0xE8XXXXXX range	Windows	15%			32-bit
`VM::VMWARE_IOMEM`	Check for VMware string in /proc/iomem	Linux	65%
`VM::VMWARE_IOPORTS`	Check for VMware string in /proc/ioports	Linux	70%
`VM::VMWARE_SCSI`	Check for VMware string in /proc/scsi/scsi	Linux	40%
`VM::VMWARE_DMESG`	Check for VMware-specific device name in dmesg output	Linux	65%	Admin			Disabled by default
`VM::VMWARE_STR`	Check str assembly instruction method for VMware	Windows	35%
`VM::VMWARE_BACKDOOR`	Check for official VMware io port backdoor technique	Windows	100%			32-bit
`VM::VMWARE_PORT_MEM`	Check for VMware memory using IO port backdoor	Windows	85%			32-bit
`VM::SMSW`	Check for SMSW assembly instruction technique	Windows	30%			32-bit
`VM::MUTEX`	Check for mutex strings of VM brands	Windows	85%
`VM::UPTIME`	Check if uptime is less than or equal to 2 minutes		10%
`VM::ODD_CPU_THREADS`	Check for odd CPU threads, usually a sign of modification through VM setting because 99% of CPUs have even numbers of threads		80%
`VM::INTEL_THREAD_MISMATCH`	Check for Intel CPU thread count database if it matches the system's thread count		60%
`VM::XEON_THREAD_MISMATCH`	Same as above, but for Xeon Intel CPUs		85%
`VM::NETTITUDE_VM_MEMORY`	Check for memory regions to detect VM-specific brands	Windows	75%
`VM::CPUID_BITSET`	Check for CPUID technique by checking whether all the bits equate to more than 4000		20%
`VM::CUCKOO_DIR`	Check for cuckoo directory using crt and WIN API directory functions	Windows	15%
`VM::CUCKOO_PIPE`	Check for Cuckoo specific piping mechanism	Windows	20%
`VM::HYPERV_HOSTNAME`	Check for default Azure hostname format regex (Azure uses Hyper-V as their base VM brand)	Windows, Linux	50%
`VM::GENERAL_HOSTNAME`	Check for commonly set hostnames by certain VM brands	Windows, Linux	20%
`VM::SCREEN_RESOLUTION`	Check for pre-set screen resolutions commonly found in VMs	Windows	10%
`VM::DEVICE_STRING`	Check if bogus device string would be accepted	Windows	25%
`VM::BLUESTACKS_FOLDERS`	Check for the presence of BlueStacks-specific folders	Linux	15%
`VM::CPUID_SIGNATURE`	Check for signatures in leaf 0x40000001 in CPUID		95%
`VM::HYPERV_BITMASK`	Check for Hyper-V CPUID bitmask range for reserved values		20%
`VM::KVM_BITMASK`	Check for KVM CPUID bitmask range for reserved values		40%
`VM::KGT_SIGNATURE`	Check for Intel KGT (Trusty branch) hypervisor signature in CPUID		80%
`VM::VMWARE_DMI`	Check for VMware DMI strings in BIOS serial number	Windows	30%
`VM::HYPERV_EVENT_LOGS`	Check for presence of Hyper-V in the Windows Event Logs	Windows	30%
`VM::VMWARE_EVENT_LOGS`	Check for presence of VMware in the Windows Event Logs	Windows	25%
`VM::QEMU_VIRTUAL_DMI`	Check for presence of QEMU in the /sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id directory	Linux	40%
`VM::QEMU_USB`	Check for presence of QEMU in the /sys/kernel/debug/usb/devices directory	Linux	20%
`VM::HYPERVISOR_DIR`	Check for presence of any files in /sys/hypervisor directory	Linux	20%
`VM::UML_CPU`	Check for the "UML" string in the CPU brand	Linux	80%
`VM::KMSG`	Check for any indications of hypervisors in the kernel message logs	Linux	10%
`VM::VM_PROCS`	Check for a Xen VM process	Linux	20%
`VM::VBOX_MODULE`	Check for a VBox kernel module	Linux	15%
`VM::SYSINFO_PROC`	Check for potential VM info in /proc/sysinfo	Linux	15%
`VM::DEVICE_TREE`	Check for specific files in /proc/device-tree directory	Linux	20%
`VM::DMI_SCAN`	Check for string matches of VM brands in the linux DMI	Linux	50%
`VM::SMBIOS_VM_BIT`	Check for the VM bit in the SMBIOS data	Linux	50%
`VM::PODMAN_FILE`	Check for podman file in /run/	Linux	15%
`VM::WSL_PROC`	Check for WSL or microsoft indications in /proc/ subdirectories	Linux	30%
`VM::ANYRUN_DRIVER`	Check for any.run driver presence	Windows	65%
`VM::ANYRUN_DIRECTORY`	Check for any.run directory and handle the status code	Windows	35%
`VM::GPU_CHIPTYPE`	Check for known VM vendors in the GPU chip manufacturer	Windows	100%
`VM::DRIVER_NAMES`	Check for VM-specific names for drivers	Windows	50%
`VM::VM_SIDT`	Check for the IDT base address	Windows	75%
`VM::HDD_SERIAL`	Check for HDD serial number	Windows	100%
`VM::PORT_CONNECTORS`	Check for physical connection ports	Windows	50%
`VM::VM_HDD`	Check for QEMU keyword in HDD model	Windows	75%
`VM::ACPI_DETECT`	Check for Hyper-V string in ACPI data	Windows	85%
`VM::GPU_NAME`	Check for VM specific device names in GPUs	Windows	100%
`VM::VMWARE_DEVICES`	Check for VMware-specific devices	Windows	45%
`VM::VMWARE_MEMORY`	Check for VMware-specific memory traces in certain processes	Windows	50%
`VM::IDT_GDT_MISMATCH`	Check if the IDT and GDT limit addresses mismatch between different CPU cores	Windows	25%
`VM::PROCESSOR_NUMBER`	Check for number of processors	Windows	25%
`VM::NUMBER_OF_CORES`	Check for number of cores	Windows	50%
`VM::WMI_MODEL`	Check for device's model using WMI	Windows	100%
`VM::WMI_MANUFACTURER`	Check for device's manufacturer using WMI	Windows	100%
`VM::WMI_TEMPERATURE`	Check for device's temperature	Windows	25%
`VM::PROCESSOR_ID`	Check for empty processor ids using WMI	Windows	25%
`VM::CPU_FANS`	Check for CPU Fans	Windows	35%
`VM::POWER_CAPABILITIES`	Check what power states are enabled	Windows	25%		GPL
`VM::SETUPAPI_DISK`	Checks for virtual machine signatures in disk drive device identifiers	Windows	20%		GPL
`VM::VMWARE_HARDENER`	Checks for VMwareHardenerLoader's method of patching firmware detection by setting its signatures with "7"	Windows	50%
`VM::WMI_QUERIES`	Executes generic WMI queries that always return more than 0 entries in physical machines and checks if any query returns zero entries	Windows	50%		GPL
`VM::SYS_QEMU`	Check for existence of "qemu_fw_cfg" directories within /sys/module and /sys/firmware	Linux	70%
`VM::LSHW_QEMU`	Check for QEMU string instances with lshw command	Linux	80%

Brand table

This is the table of all the brands the library supports.

String	Variable alias	VM type	Notes
Unknown	`VM::brands::NULL_BRAND`	Unknown
VirtualBox	`VM::brands::VBOX`	Hypervisor (type 2)
VMware	`VM::brands::VMWARE`	Hypervisor (type 2)
VMware Express	`VM::brands::VMWARE_EXPRESS`	Hypervisor (type 2)
VMware ESX	`VM::brands::VMWARE_ESX`	Hypervisor (type 1)
VMware GSX	`VM::brands::VMWARE_GSX`	Hypervisor (type 2)
VMware Workstation	`VM::brands::VMWARE_WORKSTATION`	Hypervisor (type 2)
VMware Fusion	`VM::brands::VMWARE_FUSION`	Hypervisor (type 2)
VMware (with VmwareHardenedLoader)	`VM::brands::VMWARE_HARD`	Hypervisor (type 2)	See the repository
bhyve	`VM::brands::BHYVE`	Hypervisor (type 1)
KVM	`VM::brands::KVM`	Hypervisor (type 1)
QEMU	`VM::brands::QEMU`	Emulator/Hypervisor (type 2)
QEMU+KVM	`VM::brands::QEMU_KVM`	Hypervisor (type 1)
KVM Hyper-V Enlightenment	`VM::brands::KVM_HYPERV`	Hypervisor (type 1)
QEMU+KVM Hyper-V Enlightenment	`VM::brands::QEMU_KVM_HYPERV`	Hypervisor (type 1)
Microsoft Hyper-V	`VM::brands::HYPERV`	Hypervisor (type 1)
Microsoft Virtual PC/Hyper-V	`VM::brands::HYPERV_VPC`	Hypervisor (either type 1 or 2)
Microsoft x86-to-ARM	`VM::brands::MSXTA`	Emulator
Parallels	`VM::brands::PARALLELS`	Hypervisor (type 2)
Xen HVM	`VM::brands::XEN`	Hypervisor (type 1)
ACRN	`VM::brands::ACRN`	Hypervisor (type 1)
QNX hypervisor	`VM::brands::QNX`	Hypervisor (type 1)
Hybrid Analysis	`VM::brands::HYBRID`	Sandbox
Sandboxie	`VM::brands::SANDBOXIE`	Sandbox
Docker	`VM::brands::DOCKER`	Container
Wine	`VM::brands::WINE`	Compatibility layer
Apple Rosetta 2	`VM::brands::APPLE_ROSETTA`	Binary Translation Layer/Emulator
Virtual PC	`VM::brands::VPC`	Hypervisor (type 2)
Anubis	`VM::brands::ANUBIS`	Sandbox
JoeBox	`VM::brands::JOEBOX`	Sandbox
ThreatExpert	`VM::brands::THREATEXPERT`	Sandbox
CWSandbox	`VM::brands::CWSANDBOX`	Sandbox
Comodo	`VM::brands::COMODO`	Sandbox
Bochs	`VM::brands::BOCHS`	Emulator
NetBSD NVMM	`VM::brands::NVMM`	Hypervisor (type 2)
OpenBSD VMM	`VM::brands::BSD_VMM`	Hypervisor (type 2)
Intel HAXM	`VM::brands::INTEL_HAXM`	Hypervisor (type 1)
Unisys s-Par	`VM::brands::UNISYS`	Partitioning Hypervisor
Lockheed Martin LMHS	`VM::brands::LMHS`	Hypervisor (unknown type)	Yes, you read that right. The library can detect VMs running on US military fighter jets, apparently
Cuckoo	`VM::brands::CUCKOO`	Sandbox
BlueStacks	`VM::brands::BLUESTACKS`	Emulator
Jailhouse	`VM::brands::JAILHOUSE`	Partitioning Hypervisor
Apple VZ	`VM::brands::APPLE_VZ`	Unknown
Intel KGT (Trusty)	`VM::brands::INTEL_KGT`	Hypervisor (type 1)
Microsoft Azure Hyper-V	`VM::brands::AZURE_HYPERV`	Hypervisor (type 1)
Xbox NanoVisor (Hyper-V)	`VM::brands::NANOVISOR`	Hypervisor (type 1)
SimpleVisor	`VM::brands::SIMPLEVISOR`	Hypervisor (type 1)
Hyper-V artifact (not an actual VM)	`VM::brands::HYPERV_ARTIFACT`	Unknown
User-mode Linux	`VM::brands::UML`	Paravirtualised/Hypervisor (type 2)
IBM PowerVM	`VM::brands::POWERVM`	Hypervisor (type 1)
Google Compute Engine (KVM)	`VM::brands::GCE`	Hypervisor (type 1)
OpenStack (KVM)	`VM::brands::OPENSTACK`	Hypervisor (type 1)
KubeVirt (KVM)	`VM::brands::KUBEVIRT`	Hypervisor (type 1)
AWS Nitro System EC2 (KVM-based)	`VM::brands::AWS_NITRO`	Hypervisor (type 1)
Podman	`VM::brands::PODMAN`	Container
WSL	`VM::brands::WSL`	Hybrid Hyper-V (type 1 and 2)	The type is debatable
OpenVZ	`VM::brands::OPENVZ`	Container
ANY.RUN	N/A	Sandbox	Removed from the lib, available only in the CLI
Barevisor	`VM::brands::BAREVISOR`	Hypervisor (type 1)
HyperPlatform	`VM::brands::HYPERPLATFORM`	Hypervisor (type 1)
MiniVisor	`VM::brands::MINIVISOR`	Hypervisor (type 1)

Setting flags

Flag	Description	Specific to
`VM::ALL`	This will enable all the technique flags, including checks that are disabled by default.
`VM::NO_MEMO`	This will disable memoization, meaning the result will not be fetched through a previous computation of the techniques. For example, if you run all the techniques with VM::detect(), this will save all the technique results in a small cache and if you decide to use VM::percentage() afterwards, the result for that function will retrieve the precomputed results from that cache. Use this if you're only using a single total number of functions from the `VM` struct so that no unnecessary caching will be performed.
`VM::DEFAULT`	This represents a range of flags which are enabled if no default argument is provided.
`VM::MULTIPLE`	This will basically return a `std::string` message of what brands could be involved. For example, it could return "`VMware or VirtualBox`" instead of having a single brand string output.	VM::brand()
`VM::HIGH_THRESHOLD`	This will set the threshold bar to confidently detect a VM by 3x higher.	VM::detect() and VM::percentage()
`VM::DYNAMIC`	This will add 8 options to the conclusion message rather than 2, each with their own varying likelihoods.	VM::conclusion()
`VM::NULL_ARG`	Does nothing, meant as a placeholder flag mainly for CLI purposes. It's best to ignore this.

Variables

Variable	Type	Description
`VM::technique_count`	`std::uint16_t`	This will store the number of VM detection techniques
`VM::technique_vector`	`std::vector<std::uint8_t>`	This will store all the technique macros as a vector. Useful if you're trying to loop through all the techniques for whatever operation you're performing.

CLI documentation

Shorthand	Full command	Description
-h	--help	Prints the help menu
-v	--version	Prints the version and miscellaneous details
-d	--detect	Prints the VM detection result (1 = VM, 0 = baremetal)
-s	--stdout	Returns either 0 or 1 to STDOUT without any text output (0 = VM, 1 = baremetal)
-b	--brand	Prints the most likely brand
-l	--brand-list	Prints all the possible VM brand strings the CLI supports
-c	--conclusion	Prints the conclusion message string
-p	--percent	Prints the VM likeliness percentage between 0 and 100
-n	--number	Prints the number of VM detection techniques it can perform
-t	--type	Returns the VM type (if a VM was found)
	--disable-notes	No notes will be provided
	--high-threshold	A higher theshold bar for a VM detection will be applied
	--no-color	Removes all the color, this is added due to some terminals not supporting ANSI escape codes while cluttering the output
	--dynamic	allow the conclusion message to be dynamic (8 possibilities instead of only 2)
	--verbose	add more information to the output
	--compact	ignore the unsupported techniques from the CLI output and thus make it more compact

Note

If you want a general result of everything combined above, do not put any arguments. This is the intended way to use the CLI tool.

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

documentation.md

documentation.md

Documentation

Contents

`VM::detect()`

`VM::percentage()`

`VM::brand()`

`VM::check()`

`VM::add_custom()`

`VM::type()`

`VM::conclusion()`

`VM::detected_count()`

vmaware struct

Flag table

Brand table

Setting flags

Variables

CLI documentation

Files

documentation.md

Latest commit

History

documentation.md

File metadata and controls

Documentation

Contents

VM::detect()

VM::percentage()

VM::brand()

VM::check()

VM::add_custom()

VM::type()

VM::conclusion()

VM::detected_count()

vmaware struct

Flag table

Brand table

Setting flags

Variables

CLI documentation

`VM::detect()`

`VM::percentage()`

`VM::brand()`

`VM::check()`

`VM::add_custom()`

`VM::type()`

`VM::conclusion()`

`VM::detected_count()`